DISABILITY CLAIM DATA PUT ONLINE IN BUNGLE

Personal info on 6,000 visible for 2yrs

BUNGLING Department for Work and Pensions officials published 6,000 people’s personal data online in an apparently “serious” breach.

The National Insurance numbers were visible in spreadsheets on the internet for two years.

It is believed they belonged to people claiming disability benefit PIP.

The documents were published in 2018 listing payments to outsourcing giant Capita, which assesses sick and disabled people for the benefit.

The Information Commissioner – which can fine organisations up to £17.8million – is now examining the incident.

A spokeswoman said: “People have the right to expect organisations will handle their information securely.”

Privacy campaign group Big Brother

Watch was first alerted to the spreadsheets from March and June 2018.

Mirror analysi s suggests 6,842 National Insurance numbers appear to have been published, all but four of them in the June 2018 data.

Of those, 401 were duplicates, suggesting 6,441 individual PIP claimants had their details published online.

The June 2018 spreadsheet was removed on Monday and the March spreadsheet was due to be removed last night.

Data protection lawyer Jon Belcher, of Blake Morgan, said: “This is potentially a serious incident.”

Jonathan Compton of DMH Stallard, said it would be an “aggravating factor” that the people involved were disabled.

The DWP said Capita was not at fault over the incident. The firm declined to comment.

People have a right to expect their information is handled securely SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE INFORMATION COMMISSION